This post was published long before the Mists of Pandara Expansion.
The tips and techniques explained here may be outdated.

“Melee Healer”

Blizzard has described the Paladin as a “melee healer”. The problem with being a “melee healer” is that none of our Holy talents are based off of melee.

The only healing that’s melee based would be Seal of Light/Judgment of Light but based on what I’ve read on the forums, most Holy Paladins don’t bother sealing/judging since it’s a “waste of mana” and SoL/JoL just heals too little to be useful in big boss fights.

I would love to see “Blessing of Light” increase the amount healed by Judgment of Light.. or see a holy talent like “Improved Seal of Light” that bases the amount healed on the health of the mob.

1 comment to “Melee Healer”

They are right to a degree. Part of the problem is few people have amended their thinking since pre-2.0. Before the Expansion, a Paladin had to keep meleeing in order to keep JoL up. But that’s no longer the case. In fact, the class designers added one specific ability that while generally useful, has a specific aspect that has no real purpose outside of a raid. That ability is Crusader Strike, the 41 point talent for Retribution Paladins. The text of Crusader Strike reads: “An instant strike that causes weapon damage plus 40% of your Holy spell damage and refreshes all Judgements on the target.” What purpose would refreshing all Judgements have outside of a raid? This is one of the hugest reasons why I think Ret Paladins are underestimated raids. Take one Ret Pally drop JotC on the boss, then have two other Paladins in the raid drop Judgement of Light and Judgement of Wisdom on the same target, and have the Ret Pally go to town. He can still help out healing, if that’s really an issue, but every 10-15 seconds he can drop the proverbial hammer and keep those Judgements up. The power of those three Judgements may not be amazing, but I think they would give more than the additional healing of one Paladin, especially if JotC was enhanced with Sanctified Crusader talent.